Coffin.



16.754,712. .y Y PATENTBD MAR.'15,1904.

. J. J. SCHNEIDER.

COFPIN.

APPLIoATIoN FILED n.132 1903.

I0 IODEL'.

UNITED ISTATES Patented March 15, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

' CoFFlN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 754,712, dated March 175, 1904.

Application fue@ April 1s, 1903'.

To z whom it may concern:

.for raising and lowering such supports, and

thereby the head and -shoulders of the body resting thereon.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a coin with simple, economical, and efficient means for raising the head and shoulders of a body when placed in a coffin to a suitable height for the purpose of viewing the remains and lowering the same When desired. y v

Other and further objects will appear from an examination of the drawings and the following description and claims.

binations, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a plan view illustrating acofin provided with my improvements; Fig.Y 2, a broken central sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the head and shoulder supports, and Fig. 4 an illustration of one of the shouldersupports-detached from the round bar over which it works.

In Fig. l a represents the head-support, and I) and c the shoulder-supports. Upon these supports the head and shoulders of the body rest when placed in the coffin.

Fig. 2 illustrates how the head and shoulder supports are fastenedfto the coiin. A perpendicular round wrought-iron bar d is pointed sharp on one end and driven into the bottom of the coffin. It is thus held firmly in its proper place. The other end or top "is curved and flattened so as to engage the wall of the coiiin when the round body portion is perpendicularly arranged at a distance from such wall, so as to permit adjustment of the supports thereon. The attened end of the bar is perforated and attached to the wall of the coflin by means of an ordinarywood-screw or Serial No. 152,380. (No model.)` i

similar element. Similar bars c andf are fastened to the sides of the cofin, and upon these the shoulder-supporting brackets and c are mounted. The supporting-bars e and f are counterparts of each other and, in fact, are counterparts of the supporting-bar 0l, with the exception that they are shorter. The description of one therefore describes all three sufciently to enable any one skilled in the art to understand this part of the invention. Shoulder-supporting brackets and c are also counterparts of each other, and a description of one is sufiicient to enable both to be clearly understood.

In order to enable the shoulder-supporting brackets to be raised and lowered upon the Vsupporting-bars, each of such brackets is provided at the end nearest the wall of the coiin with a perforation therethrough of suiiicient size to t loosely over the perpendicular supporting-bar, as shown in Fig. 3, so that when the bracket is mounted upon the bar and oc- The invention consists in the features, comthat by raising-the supporting-bracket to a position at right angles with the bar it releases the edges, which otherwise bind diagonally and lock such bracket in engagement with the bar. become self-locking by reason of'their own weight when in a diagonal position-with relation .to the bars. It is also obvious that the greater the weight which rests upon the supporting-brackets the more firmly they will be locked.

In order to guard against accidental lowering of the supporting-brackets 'upon the upright bars, which might occur from the jolting incident to driving over rough roads, a rubber washer g is mounted beneath each of such brackets, so as to tightly fit upon such The supporting-brackets thus ICO bars, as shown in Figs. 2 and These washers are slidable upward and downward with the supports and may be readily adjusted to any desired position upon the supporting-bars.

The head-supporting bracket a is mounted upon its perpendicular supporting-bar in the same manner as are the shoulder-supporting brackets, being provided at one end with a perforation which fits loosely upon ythe supporting-bar, so as to prevent the downward movement of such head-support when it is in a diagonal position with relation to its supporting-bar, and a. rubber washer g is mounted beneath the head-support in the same manner already described in connection with the shoulder-supports.

The head-supporting bracket is made, pret'- erably, of wrought-iron and is substantially T-shaped, the arm portions being curved, so as to provide an upward concave 'surface for receiving and supporting the head, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The shoulder-supporting brackets are also made, preferably, of wrought metal.

The upright bars, upon which the shouldersupporting brackets are mounted, are fastened to the side walls /i of the colin in the same manner in which the upright bar for the headsupporting bracket is attached to the end wall e'. The upright bars are thus well supported at top and bottom and have the desired rigidity and strength to etliciently support the movable brackets and the weight resting thereon.

1. In a coilin having side and end walls, the combination of an upright rod mounted adjacent to one of the end walls, and ametallic T- shaped supporting-bracket having a concave upper surface movably mounted upon such rod entirely supported thereby and having a free end extending outward therefrom for supporting the head of a corpse and permitting it to be moved without moving the rest of the body, substantially as described.

2. In a coin having side and end walls, the combination of a plurality of upright rods mounted adjacent to such walls, a separate independently movable supporting bracket for each rod slidably mounted thereon and provided with means for holding it in any desired raised or lowered position, substantially as described.

3. In a coflin having side and end Walls, the combination of a plurality of upright rods mounted adjacent to such walls, and separate head and shoulder supporting brackets slidably mounted upon such rods each independently movable upward and downward and each provided with a perforation therethrough loosely iitting the rod upon which it is mounted when at right angles thereto and in binding engagement with such rod when in diagonal relation thereto whereby the head and each shoulder, respectively, may be raised or lowered independently into any desired position within certain limits and supported in such position Without moving the whole body, substantially as described.

4L. In a coiiin having side and end walls, the combination of a plurality oi' upright rods mounted adjacent to such walls each having an upper portion extending at an angle to the upright portion thereofl and attached at the eX- treme end of such uppej1 angular portion to the wall near which it is mounted, separate independently-movable brackets slidably mounted upon each of such rods, and means for supporting such brackets in their adjusted position, substantially as described.

5. In a coffin having side and end walls, the combination of an upright rod mounted adjacent to each side wall and one of the end walls, each having its upper end extending backward from the upright portion toward and attached to the wall near which it is mounted, a head-supporting bracket movably mounted upon the upright rod adjacent to the end wall, shoulder-supporting brackets mounted upon the upright rods adjacent to the side walls, and movable separately and independently of the head-supporting bracket and means for holding such brackets in any desired raised or lowered position upon the rods, substantially as described.

JOSEPH JOHN SCHNEIDER.

Witnesses:

GUY BROCKWAY, CAnLos S. ANDREWS. 

